Description

Part of the “Longman Classics in Political Science” series, this renowned book, known for a lively writing style,  provocative point of view, and exceptional scholarship, has been thoroughly revised and updated, including up-to-the-minute case studies and the latest research.

 

This favorite of both instructors and students is a 'behind-the-scenes' tour of news in American politics.  The core question explored in this book is: How well does the news, as the core of the national political information system, serve the needs of democracy?  In investigating this question, the book examines how various political actors – from presidents and members of Congress, to interest organizations and citizen-activists – try to get their messages into the news.

Features

• Case Studies in every chapter focus in-depth on key events -- such as the press reports of 9/11 and the Iraq War -- to help students apply core concepts to real world examples.

• Uses a framework of the 'four news biases' (personalization, dramatization, fragmentation, and authority-disorder) to help students grasp the vital significance to the American political process of the relationships among the media, politics, and public opinion.

• Foreword written by Doris Graber (University of Illinois — Chicago), one of the most well-respected scholars in political communication, offers an analysis of the historic and enduring contributions of the text.
• Author's Web site provides students with a wide range of well vetted resources for them to explore topics in greater depth(http://faculty.washington.edu/bennett/).

 

New to this Edition

In addition to an abundance of new examples as well as completely updated references, there are several important changes to the new edition including:

·                         Chapter 1 is greatly streamlined and outlines the key issues in press-politics that define the book.

·                         New case studies in several chapters, including Chapter 1’s examination of Stephen Colbert’s famous White House press dinner speech, which emphasizes the importance of political comedy programs for providing perspective when journalists face professional constraints.

·                         A greatly revised Chapter 3 on public opinion includes new “insider” material on polling and coverage of the news-driven nature of polls.

Offers substantially increased coverage on digital media and citizen information networks, while emphasizing that these technologies are often fragmented and still require mass media to aggregate viewpoints.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Doris Graber

 

CHAPTER 1   THE NEWS ABOUT DEMOCRACY:  AN INTRODUCTION TO THE AMERICAN POLITICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM   

 

CHAPTER 2   NEWS CONTENT: FOUR INFORMATION BIASES THAT MATTER  

 

CHAPTER 3   THE NEWS AUDIENCE: INFORMATION PROCESSING AND PUBLIC OPINION   

 

CHAPTER 4   THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NEWS   

 

CHAPTER 5   HOW POLITICIANS MAKE THE NEWS   

 

CHAPTER 6   HOW JOURNALISTS REPORT THE NEWS  

 

CHAPTER 7 INSIDE THE PROFESSION: OBJECTIVITY AND POLITICAL AUTHORITY 

 

CHAPTER 8   ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS DEMOCRACY: SOLUTIONS FOR CITIZENS, POLITICIANS, AND JOURNALISTS   

Back Cover

LONGMAN CLASSICS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE

In revising classic works in political science, Longman celebrates the contributions its authors and their research have made to the discipline. The Longman Classics in Political Science series honors these authors and their work. Providing students with an updated context, each title in the series includes a new foreword, written by one of today’s top scholars, offering a fresh, in-depth analysis of the book and its enduring contributions.

…[T]his book is excellent. It is well-organized, incisively written, and suffused with vivid examples from social science and the news itself to illustrate Bennett’s arguments about the nature–and shortcomings–of the news.

--Danny Hayes, Syracuse University

Part of the Longman Classics in Political Science series, this renowned text–known for its lively writing style, provocative point of view, and exceptional scholarship–has been thoroughly revised and updated to include the most current case studies and the latest research. A favorite of students and instructors alike, this behind-the-scenes tour of the American media explores the central question: How well does the news, as the core of the national political information system, serve the needs of democracy? In examining this question, the text discusses how various political actors–from presidents and members of Congress, to interest organizations and citizen activists–try to convey their messages through the news.

New to the Eighth Edition

• Chapter One is greatly streamlined and outlines the key issues in press—politics that define the book.
• Several chapters present new case studies, including Chapter One’s examination of Stephen Colbert’s famous White House press dinner speech, which highlights the importance of political comedy programs to provide perspective when journalists face professional constraints.
• Chapter Three on public opinion now features “insider” material on polling and the news-driven nature of polls.
• Expanded coverage of digital media and citizen information networks emphasizes the fragmentation of these technologies and the need for mass media to aggregate viewpoints.

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